Alabama

YOUR VIEW: Reject politics of fear and negativity

In his first inaugural address, during some of the darkest days of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt said: "This great nation will endure as it has endured, will revive, and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself."

Seventy-eight years later, we appear to have a fresh cadre of politicians who would reject FDR's assessment of this "great nation." Indeed, they scream at us from TV ad after TV ad that we have much to fear: health care reform, gambling, gambling opponents, immigrants, taxes, conservatives, liberals, Nancy Pelosi, Rand Paul -- the list goes on and on. Fear-mongering, lying and character assassination seem to be the strategies of the day for garnering votes.

All of this, though, depends on two major factors: (1) a populace that is so ignorant of current affairs and history it will believe anything that Fox News or MSNBC says or the tea party pays to put on the air; (2) a nation that doubts its own ability to "endure," "revive" and "prosper."

I pray voters will shed the fear, reject the politics of negativity and vote this coming Tuesday for women and men who are forwarding positive solutions to troubling and complicated issues. Let us not succumb to the politics of fear and despair but, instead, live up to Roosevelt's assessment of the United States as a "great nation."